The four teams qualifying for the August 9 VCT main event have missed out on the first Challengers outright.
FaZe Clan:
FaZe Clan were one of the most threatening teams earlier this year but they haven’t been able to replicate their successes until now. They breezed through the entire Challengers 2 Qualifier, without dropping a single map. They capped their run against two formidable opponents, taking out Immortals (16:14 Ascent, 13:3 Breeze) and Ghost Gaming (14:12 Ascent, 13:11 Bind) in a clean sweep.
TSM:
TSM, formerly regarded as the greatest team in the region, if not the world, had questionable performances in recent tournaments despite a star-studded roster. They failed to find momentum prior to these qualifiers. This tournament was by far their most successful attempt to reclaim the spotlight once again. They were the only team to drop maps and still come out of the qualifiers with a punched ticket to the Challengers 2.
T1
A vast majority of the Valorant community expected T1 to be the strongest team in North America a year ago, and while they have remained in the upper echelons of NA VALORANT, they have yet to reach the pinnacle. This tournament might just be their second chance at a breakthrough in the Valorant scene: their performance was unmatched in this qualifier.
It’s no easy task to defeat Renegades (13:5 Icebox, 13:7 Bind) and Built By Gamers (13:9 Bind, 13:9 Ascent), especially on consecutive clean sweeps. Keeping this success at the back of their mind, T1 should be confident going into Challengers 2.
Luminosity Gaming (LG):
Defeating P11 was a walk in the park for LG and Resonate did not prove to be a hindrance either. On the other side of the bracket, Cloud9 Blue had just executed perfect sweeps against GoodFellas and Complexity, but LG swept them as well with 13:9 wins on Ascent and Icebox.
